Clearerboard for drawing rollers of textile machines



June 13, 1961 w. B. BARFIELD ETAL 2,987,730

CLEARERBOARD FOR DRAWING ROLLERS OF TEXTILE MACHINES Filed Nov. 24, 19582 Sheets-Sheet 1 WALTA'R 8. BARF/5L0 6 BY HIRE) h. BEAVER ATTORNEY' June13, 1961 w. B. BARFIELD ET AL 2,987,730

CLEARERBOARD FOR DRAWING ROLLERS 0F TEXTILE MACHINES Filed Nov. 24, 19582 Sheets-Sheet z INVENTORS WAL TE)? 5. BA RF/ELD 5 BY HARRY w BEA v5)?ATTORNEY-S United States Patent 7 i z 987 780 CLEARERBOARD FoR IiRAWINGROLLERS OF TEXTILE MACHINES Walter Barney Barfield and Harry W. Beaver,Lancaster,

S.C., asignors to The Springs Cotton Mills, a corporation of SouthCarolina Filed Nov. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 775,923 7 Claims. (Cl. 19-139)The present invention relates to clearerboards for drawing rollers oftextile machines and more particularly to pivotally oscillatingunderclearerboards having curved front and back edges for use on drawingframes having metallic fluted rollers.

In the operation of certain textile machinery such as drawing frames,roving frames, spinning frames and the like, the sliver, roving or yarnpasses between rollers which incidentally pick up and accumulate lint,loose fiber and waste from the sliver, roving or yarn. This accumulationforms laps on the rollers, a portion of which eventually passes backinto the sliver, roving or yarn causing slubs or other undesirableirregularities in the finished yarn. This is especially true whenslivers, which are relatively coarse and contain a large amount of lint,fiber and waste, pass over the metallic fluted bottom rollers ofconventional drawing frames.

Clearerboards have been devised to operate in contact There are severaltypes of clearersurface in contact with the rollers. This clearerboardhas not proven completely satisfactory in that rows of lint and loosefibers called eyebrows form on the clearerboards and occasionally arepicked up by the rollers and passed back into the sliver.

The present invention provides an improved clearerboard which not onlyclears lint and loose fiber from the rollers but does so with areduction in the return of accumulated lint and fiber to the rollers.The present invention contemplates the use of a flat clearerboardmounted on a central pivot post with its top surface in contact with therollers and it is pivotally oscillated in a plane parallel to theplaneof the rollers by a linkage driven from an "oscillating shaftsuch as theknock-off shaft of a conventional drawing frame. The board has a concaveback edge and a convex front edge which reduce overlap of fiber from therollers and greatly reduces the formation a of eyebrows, rat nests andrat'tails on the clearerboard, thereby reducing the occurrence ofpick-up and return of lintand fiber by the rollers to the sliver. The

pivotal oscillation not only provides more effective clear- 7 ing, butresults in a simple and inexpensive construction, L'since a; singlepivot post may be. used to mount the under- Iclearer'board and ,nocomplex sliding mechanism must be provided as is required in the backand forth reciprocation of conventional underclearerboards. Rather, thecon .Patented June 13, 1961 struction can be simply and inexpensivelyattached to an existing drawing frame or other textile machinery.

Other and further features and advantages of the present invention willbe apparent from the following description and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a drawing frame including aclearerboard construction illustrating the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of only the clearerboard and driving mechanismof FIG. 1 with the rollers shown in dotted lines; and

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the elements of FIG. 2 illustrating theposition of farthest movement of the clearerboard in one direction insolid lines and the position of farthest movement in the oppositedirection in dash-dot lines.

Referring now to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention will be described in detail.

The drawing frame itself is generally indicated as 10 and includes abeam member 12 extending across the frame and a pair of spaced rollerstands 14 extending upwardly from the beam member 12 for support ofrollers 16. The stands 14 include bearings and gearing for the mountingand driving of the rollers 16. The bearings and gearing may be of anyconventional construction and, therefore, are not illustrated in thepresent drawings. The rollers 1-6 include a series of fixed bottomrollers 18, 20, 22 and 24 which are driven by the gearing atprogressively greater speeds from the slower back roller 24, to thefaster front roller 18. These rollers 18, 20, 22 and 24 are metallic andare formed with longitudinal flutes 26 therein to facilitate thegrasping and moving forward of a sliver. Top rollers 28 are mounted inbearings in the stands 14 in vertical alignment with their respectivebottom rollers and vertically movable to accommodate passage of a sliverbetween the top and bottom rollers. The 'top rollers 28 are freerollers, being rotated by the rotation of the bottom rollers and themovement of the sliver.

Also extending from the frame is a shaft mounting 30 for mounting asmall drive shaft 32 which in conventional drawing frames may be theknock-off shaft oscillating in conjunction with a drawing mechanism orother machinery so that when the other machinery stops, the knock-ofishaft, through proper linkage, will stop operation of the drawing frame10. Fixedly mounted on the shaft 32 is a sleeve 34 which oscillates withthe shaft. A connecting arm 36 has one end 38 pivotally attached to thesleeve 34 and has its other end 40 pivotally secured to a topclearerboard 42 which rests on the top rollers 28 and reciprocates backand forth to clear lint and loose fiber from the top rollers.

The construction which has been explained above is conventional in thetextile machinery field and has been included herein to exemplify thetype of machinery to which the apparatus of the present invention may beadapted. The scope of the present invention is directed to theunderclearerboard and its driving mechanism, which will presently bedescribed.

An underclearerboard 44 of flat construction with a lint gathering topsurface 46 such as felt or napped wool, is mounted subjacent the bottomrollers 18, 20, 22 and 24 on a pivot post 48. This post 48 is secured tothe frame beam 12 and extends vertically into a centrally located hole50 in the underclearerboard 44. The lower end 52 of the pivot post 48extends through a hole 54 in the frame beam 12 and is threaded so thatit can be adjustably secured thereto by lock nuts 56 and 58 on eitherside of the beam 12. In order to maintain the top surface 46 of ltheclearerboard 44 contact with the bottom rollers 18, 20, 22 and'24 and toapply pressure to the clearerboard for proper clearing of the bottomrollers, a coil spring 60 is mounted concentric with the pivot post 48and is biased between the lock nut 56 adjacent the top of the beam 12and a washer 62 adjacent the clearerboard 44. Thus, the spring 60normally urges the clearerboard 44 upwardly so that the top smface 46thereof is in clearing contact with the fluted bottom rollers 18, 20, 22and 24. The mounting of theclearerboard 44 on the central pivot post 48permits pivotal movement of the clearerboard.

In order to impart pivotal oscillation to the clearerboard 44, a drivingmechanism 64 is provided which drivingly links the clearerboard 44 tothe knock-off shaft 32. This mechanism 64 consists of a bracket 66secured as by bolts 68 to one corner of the clearerboard 44. Thisbracket 68 is L-shaped and is attached to the side 70 andbottom 72 ofthe clearerboard. A mounting lug 74 extends to the side of the bracket66 and forms a mounting for one end 76 of the connecting arm 78. Theother end 80 of the connecting arm 78 is pivoted on a mounting lug 82extending from an arm 84 of a sleeve 86 .fixed on the knock-off shaft 32for oscillation therewith. Thus, the oscillation of the shaft 32 istransferred by the'driving mechanism 64 into pivotal oscillation of the'underclearerboard 44 in a plane parallel to the axes of the rollers 18,20, 22 and 24.

As is apparent from the drawing, the back edge 88 of the clearerboard 44is convexly curved and is positioned adjacent the rear bottom roller 24.This conerboard upward into engagement with the bottom rollers, andoscillating means for oscillating said clearerboard for pivotal movementabout an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of the axes ofsaid bottom rollers.

3. A clearerboard for use ondrawing frame rollers comprising a pivotpost on said drawing frame below said rollers and extendingsubstantially perpendicular to the plane of the axes of the rollers, aclearerboard'pivotally mounted on said pivot post said clearerboardhaving a top surface subjacent said rollers, resilient means urging saidclearerboard upward into engagement with the rollers, and oscillatingmeans for pivotally oscillating said clearerboard about said post in-aplane substantially V the plane of the axes of the rollers, aclea-rboard pivotally vexity is such that when the underclearerboard isoscillated, the back edge 88 will at no point extend a substantialdistance beyond the back roller 24. Thus the buildup of lint and fiberin rows or eyebrows on the overlapping portion of the underclearerboardis prevented. Conversely, the front edge 90 is positioned adjacent thefront bottom roller 18 and is concavely curved with straight endportions to similarly reduce build up of lint and fiber. It has beenfound by experimentation that when an underclearer approximately 10"wide using a 22 ounce napped wool top surface is attached to aconventional drawing frame having 1%," diameter bottom rollers,opresults are obtained by reciprocating the underclearer approximately70 strokes per minute with a A; inch to one inch reciprocating stroke.The optimum curvature for both front andback edges has been found to bea curve which is offset at the center.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and has herein been describedindetail one specific embodiment, with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the invention and is not intended to limit the inventionto the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be p tedout in the. appended claims. a M

; We claim:

1. A clearerboard for use on drawing frames having mounted on said pivotpost, said clearerboard having a top surface subjacent said rollers witha convex back edge and a concave front edge, resilient means urging saidclearerboard upward into engagement with the rollers, and oscillatingmeans for pivotally oscillating said clearerboard about said post in aplane substantially parallel with the axes of said rollers.

5. A clearerboard for use on drawing frame rollers comprising a pivotpost on said drawing frame below said rollers and extendingsubstantially perpendicular to the plane of the axes of the'rollers, aclearerboard pivotally mounted on said pivot post, said clearerboardhaving a top surface subjacent said rollers, a coil spring concentricwith said post and biased between said frame and clearerboard to urgesaid clearerboard upward into engagement with the rollers, andoscillating means for pivotally oscillating :said clearerboardabout saidpost in a plane. substantially parallel with the axes of said rollers.

' 6. A clearerboard for use on drawing frame rollers comprising a pivotpost on said drawing frame below said rollers and extendingsubstantially perpendicular to the plane of the axes of the rollers, aclearerboard pivotally mounted onsaid pivot post, said clearerboardhaving a top surface subjacent said rollers, resilient means urging saidclearerboard upward into engagement with the rollers,- an oscillatingshaft mounted on said drawing frame, and drive linkage interconnectingsaid clearer- .board and said shaft to transmit oscillation of saidshaft into oscillation. of said clearerboard in a plane substantiallyparallel with theaxes of said rollers.

' 7,. A clearerboard for use on drawing frame rollers comprising ,apivot post on said drawing frame below said rollers and extendingsubstantially perpendicular to theplane of the'axes of the rollers, aclearerboard pivotally-mounted on said pivot post, said clearerboardhavtop and bottom rollers comprising a board supporting member on saiddrawing frame, a clearerboard pivotally supported on said boardsupporting member below the bottom rollers of the drawing frame, saidclearerboard having a-top surface adjacent said bottom ro'llers, re

' an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of the axes of saidbottom rollers. a

2. A clearerboardfor use on drawing frameszhaving' 7 top and bottomrollers comprising a board supporting member on said drawing frame, aclearerboard pivot- 7 allysupported onsaid board supporting member belowthe bottom rollers of the drawing frame, said clearerboard havinga topsurface adjacent said bottom rollers and a convex back edge, resilientmeans urging said clearing a top surface subjacent said rollers with aconvex backedge andfa concave front edge, a coil spring concentric withsaid post and biased between said frame and elearerboard to urge saidclearerboard upward into engagement with the rollers, an oscillatingshaft mounted on said drawing frame, and drive linkage interconnectingsriidclearerboard and said shaft to transmit oscillation ofsaidshaftinto oscillation of said clearerboard' in a plane substantiallyparallel with the axes of said rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent p UNITED STATES PATENTS.Mallott -r. 'Sept. 10, 1929 2,446,839 Lee Aug. 10,1948

f FOREIGN PATENTS r 4 2ss,o42 Great Britain. "A r-.5, 1928 744,156 GreatBritainfl Feb. 1, 1956

